According to discussion in EuroTwitch there is a good chance that twitchers of the north of Middle Europe can observe Hawk Owls (Surnia ulula) this winter/ late fall on their homegrounds. This should be not only true for Denmark but also at least for the northern part of Germany for this autumn/winter as there are very good numbers in Finland (incl. south and west coast) with, for example, 164 observations reported within last 7 days (some undoubtedly concern same individuals but gives an indication of the abundance) from the whole of Finland. At first sight, it seems that similar numbers are being reported from Sweden and last weekend two birds were observed in the extreme south (Scania). In the “Danish Bird News” they announced the first Hawk Owl for almost 7 years already. A 1st winter individual has been seen at Store Hareskov, Copenhagen during 30th September to 8th October.
From time to time there are wintering birds far inland. Last time, I remember very well, was in 2006, when Hawk Owls could be seen in the middle of Germany 100km south of Berlin. The picture shows a vagrant bird at the former lignite opencast mine Dubrau at the Spreewald near Vetschau/ Brandenburg/ Germany on march 22nd 2006.
To cope with the growing demand for top shots of the rarer species of the Palearctic Bird-Lens is keen to enrich the range of pictures of birds you can find in the western palearctic. Trips to remote places to capture images of rare birds of western palearctic were very successful. This nice image is only a first impression, what you will find in the gallery in the “Pictures Shop” very soon. Just give me a message, if I could serve you with an image needed before the new pictures are online.